Fran isn't necessarily to blame for everything. The blame can honestly be shared. For many reasons, things haven't worked out as well as most expected.
Many of us were expecting to pick up where last season ended. Excellent wins at Wisconsin and Maryland, which, last season, were very difficult for any BIG team. Plus we beat Indiana and Penn State at Carver. A four game winning streak to end the conference season. I will Not mention the performance in the Tournament. We were one win away from making The Dance. The stolen game at Minnesota was painful. We did well in the NIT, losing by 2 in OT to the eventual NIT Champs TCU. Not too shabby for one of the youngest teams in the nation. with one player with meaningful game experience, but a Big Ten first team player.
The success in the European trip also elevated expectations. It certainly seemed that we would make the top tier in the Big, despite the experts predicting a bottom of the barrel finish.
Working Garza and Nunge into the mix didn't work out as well as we thought. The team had to establish chemistry and identity, a cohesive blending into a functioning machine. Not as easy to do as we thought. It was difficult to find the right starting lineup and lineup changes were sketchy at best. Wholesale lineup changes worked at times last season but not this season. There str many reasons things have been difficult to come to fruition.....
Progress has been slow in the conference, but improvement came at Illinois. Champaign always has been a tough win for the Hawks. The second half rally for the win was hard fought, but we didn't give up and survived for the win. Rutgers was very discouraging and Purdue was abysmal, although they are a legitimate top-five team. The win against the Badgers was expected but the rout was not. For the first time since the Colorado game, the Hawks played with purpose and determination. They played as a cohesive unit on defense and offense. It was rewarding to see. This is the team we had been expecting to see the entire season.
Everyone contributed to a satisfying win. I really don't expect a win at Nebraska, but would like to see the same effort and play we saw against the Badgers. After that, we have a revenge game against Minnesota. That should be a win and perhaps a rout. We have a chance at Penn State, but I don't really expect a win there. Then it is the Spartans at Carver. That one is a possible win, only if we continue to develop and play with purpose. That opinion is based on Lickliter beating them and Fran beating them by 20 his first year, then losing by 5 to them in the B1G tournament. Then, I foresee two losses at Ohio State and Michigan. Two of the last three games are at Carver, Indiana and Northwestern. They should be wins. The game at Minnesota might be a tossup.
I think 5/6 wins in the Big Ten are very possible, which, although not up to preseason expectations, would be acceptable, considering the less than optimal start in the conference.
The NIT is out unless we play for the championship in the B1G Tournament. The Dance is impossible. The best of all possible worlds is that we continue to play as well as we did against Wisconsin and improve. That should set the stage for next season with JoeW coming onboard. The foundation is being set and the results should be respectable.
Merely the idle ramblings strolling through the mind of an unrepentant Homer, nothing else.....